In L.A., it's that other college team turning heads

Brett Hundley arrived under previous coach Rick Neuheisel as the first 5-star quarterback recruit in UCLA's history, and Hundley has helped the Bruins to a 9-2 record in his redshirt freshman season.

UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley (17) was recruited as a dual-threat player, but Bruins coach Jim Mora Jr. says the redshirt freshman is more of a prototype passer who has the ability to see the field well.(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea, US Presswire)

Story Highlights

Brett Hundley's mother 'can just see in his face the joy' the Jim Mora Jr. has in coaching team

Mora says Hundley may be a dual-threat quarterback, but he's got a classic throwing motion

Last week's 38-28 win over cross-town rival USC put Bruins in Pac-12 title game for first time

"There's this kid-like quality about him," says UCLA freshman quarterback Brett Hundley's mother, April. "I'm a really good judge of character and a person of spirit and I can just see in his face the joy that he feels when he talks about these kids. Brett tells me that Mora and (UCLA offensive coordinator Noel) Mazzone are like big kids, they keep him laughing constantly."

Hundley was an untested freshman quarterback known primarily as a raw, dual-threat athlete with potential for throwing and running except that . . .

"Yes, he's a dual-threat guy, but you know what? He's more of the conventional, pro-style, stand-in-the-pocket, survey-the-field, fire-it-down-the-field-with-accuracy-and-timing guy than people would imagine," Mora says. "He can run, but he doesn't have to depend on that to make plays.

"And that stroke. He's just got a classic throwing motion. Bill Walsh, who I had tremendous respect for, would have loved Brett Hundley. His footwork. His mechanics. His accuracy.The way he studies the game. His mindset. His approach. He would have just loved him."

Southern California – USC, that is -- was the place to be if you were going to be a college football star in L.A. except that . . .

The city is still a little shocked at what happened last Saturday, when Hundley, in his first start in a USC-UCLA game, outplayed the so-called Greatest Trojan of Them All, senior record-setting quarterback Matt Barkley. The Bruins ended a five-game losing streak against the Trojans in a 38-28 victory that gave UCLA a 9-2 record, a No.16 ranking and a guaranteed spot in the Nov. 30 Pac-12 title game, no matter what happens in the Bruins' game Saturday against No. 11 Stanford.

"Maybe he taught me a little too much," Hundley, laughing, says about the memory of Barkley, some years ago, teaching him how to properly throw a football at a camp run by quarterback guru Steve Clarkson in Santa Barbara when Hundley was just starting his high school career in Chandler, Ariz.

If there is a theme to what led up to Saturday's massive role reversal in the Rose Bowl, it is found in a strong, trusting bond between Mora, 51, the rookie college head coach, the disciplinarian UCLA needed, and Hundley, 19, the rookie starter, the transcendent athlete UCLA craved.

Hundley didn't come to UCLA to play for Mora. He was recruited by and signed by Rick Neuheisel, himself a former UCLA quarterback. It was a signing that was viewed as historic in Bruin circles – the first UCLA quarterback recruit to have earned a five-star prep rating – and possibly the turning point in Neuheisel's effort to end, as he famously put it, "the football monopoly in Los Angeles."

But, last year, Neuheisel redshirted Hundley and another desultory season ended with a 50-0 loss to USC and Neuheisel's firing.

Mora, not UCLA's first or second choice but an intriguing choice, was hired. One day in mid-December, as Mora made his way around the UCLA football facilities during the Bruins' preparations for the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, he met Hundley, and he remembers it well.

"What impressed me about him was his maturity, the way he looked me in the eye and shook my hand," Mora says. "He was very, very bright-eyed, and he seemed very smart. And his size. He looked like the right-sized guy."

Six-foot-3. 223 pounds. Lean and strong.

Mora had other options.Seniors Richard Brehaut and Kevin Prince had both gained considerable experience under Neuheisel. But Mora liked the look of Hundley. So, as he learned from his father, the longtime NFL coach with the same name, he put Hundley to the test.

"In coaching, what you try to do is create problems for your players on the practice field that they have to solve. That's how they learn," Mora says. "So (in spring practice) we would purposely put Brett in some really difficult situations. Whether he responded immediately the way you want him to and had success or whether he didn't and he had a failure, he was able to learn from it, put it in the rear-view mirror and go on – without being rattled and without being too exuberant when he did something right. That was really impressive to me."

Fast forward to last Saturday in the Rose Bowl. Hundley was put in a difficult situation – fourth quarter, USC had crept to within 31-28 – and he responded once again with poise. First down from his own 17-yard line? Boom, 18 yards to Shaq Evans, a gutsy call and brilliant execution. Third-and-13 on the same drive, from the USC 47? A clutch 15 yard-dart to Joseph Fauria.

The drive ended with a 29-yard touchdown run by Johnathan Franklin, good for a 10-point lead with 4:02 left.

Game over.

USC dynasty over. (The Trojans are 7-4, out of the polls, and facing No.1 Notre Dame Saturday without an injured Barkley.)

UCLA legend born?

Eleven games into his college career, Hundley has completed 69% of his passes for 2,973 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions. And he has run for 282 yards and eight touchdowns.

(Photo: Andrew Fielding, US Presswire)

Mora really likes Hundley and he does actually smile when he talks about his talent, his work ethic, his humility, his willingness to put in extra time on the field and in the film room, the poise that allows him to continue to look downfield when the pocket is collapsing, the nimbleness of leg. And, then, there's that something you just can't teach . . .

"I think," Mora says, "he's hungry to be great."

Mora is willing to go as far as to say this: "It's a long journey, and I don't want to put any undue pressures on the kid at this point in his career. But I would say that if he continues to work hard and we can surround him with the right kind of players, and he can stay humble, I don't see any reason he can't be regarded as one of the great quarterbacks to play here. I think he'll be talked about as a Heisman Trophy candidate very, very soon. He's on a path that's going to make him a very sought-after young man."

Hundley's parents would add one more key ingredient: Mora staying put at UCLA.

"Jim Mora has brought a whole different attitude," says Hundley's father, Brett Hundley Sr., who played football and ran track at Arizona and is now a health care executive. "You can sense it. You can feel it. Obviously, the proof is in the puddin'. They're all on the same ship, and it's quite a journey.

"Brett really respects coach Mora. He's the type of coach who can really grab Brett's attention. You can tell he's really committed to this deal of bringing UCLA football back to prominence. I think their relationship is very, very close."

Hundley's mother adds, "Brett has always aspired for so much, and that's the same way with coach Mora. Don't settle for mediocrity, and you'll achieve the things you want to. That's what I see happening. I think coach Mora has brought to the team what Brett had expressed to me his freshman year that he always wanted."

Hundley spends more time with Mazzone, the offensive coordinator, than he does with Mora, who leans to the defensive side of things. But his Bond with Mora is undeniable.

"Deep down inside, we have a strong connection on and off the field," Hundley says. "He has my back for anything and everything. I look at him as a role model, someone I can always look to and have him show me the way. He's leading this team and doing big and great things."